1. Field of the Invention
Broadly this invention relates to computers and operator interfaces. More particularly, this invention relates to the field of interaction between a class of microprocessor-based machines including computers and consumer electronics, and operator(s) of these microprocessor-based machines during the times of operator-machine latency.
2. Description of the Related Art
The field of computers and operator interfaces continues to develop. The typical components of a personal computer will be briefly reviewed. FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the principal components of a personal computer (PC) 200. The PC's processing is controlled by a central processing unit (CPU) 203. The CPU 203 receives its electrical power from a power supply 205 and its performance is at least in part determined by the speed of a clocking 207. The CPU 203 must control the data and process it as it is passed from the input/output controller 215 and the memory controller 209. The memory controller interfaces between the dynamic random access memory (DRAM) 213 and the read only memory (ROM) 211. The input/output controller 215 interfaces with a feature bus 217. On a feature bus there may be any type of optional non-volatile data storage, optional communication device, or optional processing control devices. The non-volatile types of storage are either non-removable such as a hard disk drive 223, or removable such as a PCMCIA card or smart card port 225 (credit card size cards), removable media drive 221 which accepts such media as a floppy disk 245 CD (compact disks), Zip.TM. disks, or in fact any type or kind of removable media. Optional high speed communication with a PC is accomplished using wired ports such as a serial or parallel port 227, or an universal serial bus (USB) 231 or local area network (LAN) connection 233. Optional wireless communication with the PC 200 is accomplished by such ports as an infra-red data attached (IRDA) port 229. The operator receives real time processing results from the multimedia Interface 235, which are the combinations of the PC display and the speaker(s). The operator controls the PC by a Keyboard and mouse 219. This entire system known as a hardware platform 237 must work in cooperation with a PC operating system 239. Operating systems include Microsoft Windows NT, Apple System 7, IBM OS/2, or equivalent. Application software 243 is any program designed to run on a PC operating system 239. In addition, the application software stores on the Hard Disk Drive certain files or messages 241 such as the operating system 239 start and stop screens.
The operations of the principal components of the hardware platform 237, operating system 239 and applications software 243 are well known. The cold boot-up of a PC such as PC hardware platform 237 is known. It should be understood that the principal components of the PC 200 are not limited to any specific hardware platform 237 or specific operating system 239 or specific application 243. The PC 200 can be implemented in a wide a variety of hardware, operating system or software within the true scope and spirit of the present invention.
A variety of applications 243 can run on the PC hardware platform 237. One example application is a word processing program. If the PC is used for word processing, the user enters text. Thereafter, changes and improvements are made and printed very easily without re-typing the entire document. However, the user must wait for this printing. There are other examples of PC applications including spreadsheets that speed up accounting, and database programs that track data and graphic programs that ease and improve presentation and publishing. In all cases there are times of waiting, be it during the start of the application, printing, calculations, file management, communication with other devices and other microprocessor-based events.
Many people would argue that as PC technology continues to improve the hardware and software, the operations will be faster and there will be less waiting, however as most of the PC marketplace upgraded from DOS, to Windows 3.x, to Windows 95 operating systems, the waiting became even longer. The simple operation of turning starting-up or shutting-down the PC 200 can take several minutes each day.
FIG. 3 illustrates a flow diagram of the PC of FIG. 2 during a cold start-up or boot-up 300. During this start-up flow, the PC user is waiting for the machine to finish the start-up flow of FIG. 3. This wait time for a cold start up can take several minutes. The flow diagram begins with step 301, wherein the user decides to start the PC from a completely powered off state. The power is turned on and a self-test and BIOS software routines are completed 303. Then the operating system "start screen" graphic, is displayed on the screen 305. An example "Start Screen" or "Splash Screen" is well known Microsoft Windows 95 banner. FIG. 4 contains an example of this. The PC operator must wait for the completion of the loading of the operating system 307, during this time the operator is viewing FIG. 4. Finally the "Start" screen is replaced with the PC's "Desk Top" 309. The user is provided only the status of the PC starting and no other additional information to inform, to entertain or to educate the user during this start-up process. Accordingly a need exists to provide a PC user during startup additional information.
During a shutdown of a PC, a similar scenario happens. When the operator decides to turn off the PC, such as preformed in Windows 95 or Windows NT, the operator clicks on "Start" then "Shut-down". Then the operator views a screen such as that shown in FIG. 5, which contains the Windows shut-down screen, during the shut down of the operating system. The time period for shut down can range from several seconds to a minute depending on the hardware platform 237 and associated operating system 239. The user is provided information only on the status of the shutdown process. No other information is provided, therefore it would be desirable to better utilize the time spent during shut down.
FIG. 6 illustrates the principal components of a TV 600. The operation of a TV is well understood. The TV's electronics 603 is almost completely analog mixed signals however modern TV's have such functions as picture in a picture and in fact in the future will be converted totally to digital with the up coming High Definition Television (HDTV). The TV has an electrical power supply 617. The TV has a video display 605. The TV provides for audio with one or more speakers 607. The TV has a TV control unit 609, which is the TV channel selector, volume, and other user settings. The TV must receive a signal, which may real time (live) broadcasts from an antenna, cable, or satellite 611. Alternatively the TV may have a pre-recorded input from a VCR or digital video disk (DVD) 613 input. Finally the TV may have an optional remote control 615.
When a TV is powered on there is a brief wait as the TV's electronics and display tube heats up and the picture comes into focus. During this time the TV operator is waiting for confirmation that the TV is displaying the desired program. Once the TV is viewed to be on by the operator, there may be additional waiting if the user then selects a pay-per-view TV program. This wait can take thirty seconds to a minute. The user is presented no additional information, to entertain or to educate them, accordingly a need exists to provide TV users during idle time additional information.
FIG. 7 illustrates the principal components of a telephone 700. The phone electronics 701 sends and receives information from the antenna or wire connection 703. This information is decoded from an analog or digital signal, and presented to a speaker 705, and gathered from a microphone 707. The key pad 709 is used to "dial" and for interfacing with the phone. The power is supplied from the wired connection or for the wireless phone the power is from a battery 711. Finally most phones have a display 713 for visual presentation of information. When a call is placed there is a minor wait as the call is being routed. The time to connection is largely based on the number of public telephone switches the call must be routed through, combined with how long the person being called takes to pick up the receiver. This time may be several seconds to a minute. The caller has little to do but to wait for the called phone to be answered. No other information is provided. Therefore a need exists to provide the caller additional information, during idle time, to inform, to entertain or to educate the caller.
FIG. 8 illustrates the major components of a microprocessor-based appliance. Today, electronic appliances are very sophisticated. Appliances not only save time and money but provide convenience to the operators of these appliances. Examples are radio receivers, microwave ovens, audio and video players such as CD players, ATMs (Automated Teller Machines) and a gasoline pump with a pay at the pump credit card reader. In all cases these appliances are under the control of a microprocessor. The microprocessor is directed by the appliance operator. Referring to FIG. 8, the microprocessor and electronics 801 receive commands from the appliance operator through the controls 807. The microprocessor and electronics 801 may send and/or receive information from optional communications 803. Other electronic appliances are product dispenser machines including vending machines, ticket machines and any other electronic machines used by the public to provide a product. The product dispenser machine generally prompts a user or operator for a PIN (Personal Identification Number) and a credit card or bank card or equivalent. The product dispenser communicates the PIN and the card authorization. The CD, DVD player and microwave may not have any communication capability. However note that it is common for a CD player to be integrated with a radio. This entire unit is powered by the power supply 811. During the request for service from the microprocessor the operator interacts with the appliance using the speaker and display 805. Typically the appliance is programmed to interact with a user through the product interface 809. The appliance may be to tune a receiver to a given station 813. It may be to program the microwave oven to a given cook time and power 815, to play songs in a particular order from the CD player 817, or it may be to receive a certain amount of money or gas from a product dispenser 819. These examples are given to illustrate a common and very wide based microprocessor-based appliance and appliance-operator interaction. In all of these different cases the operator programs the appliance and then must wait for the intended result. In the case of the receiver, during power-on and station selection there is a wait time. In the case of a microwave oven cooking food, for example popcorn, the user waits for 2 to 4 minutes. During the process of powering-on a CD or DVD player, and selecting the desired song or movie, the operator must wait. Certainly once, an ATM user selects a certain amount of money to be dispensed, the user will wait for the money to be dispensed. Therefore a need exists to provide the appliance operator, during idle time, additional information to inform, to entertain or to educate the appliance operator.
Shown in FIG. 9 are the principal components of a communication enterprise 900 such as a network, the Internet, the World-Wide-Web or equivalent. PCs have enabled the compression and storage of huge quantities of data that are "tagged" and search-able. Communication companies have enabled high-speed inexpensive communication of this data, from anywhere to anyone at any time. One needs only request selected information, and the network will deliver it. However, many times the speed of sending the answer back to the user is slow. As the images and graphics grow more data intensive the transmission, decompression and display takes longer.
FIG. 9 is a high level description of an LAN, (local area network) an Intranet, Internet, Extranet, a WAN (Wide Area Network), and in fact any plurality of microprocessor based communication devices. It will be noted that these connections may be wired or wireless or any combination thereof. The common concept here is that there is a communication fabric 903 to communicate with microprocessor based devices, within which certain standards and protocols are defined and adhered to so as to effect the communications required. This enables the microprocessor-based client 901 to request certain information by communicating through the fabric to the microprocessor-based server 905. Although the Internet and the World Wide Web are the best known example of this, the fundamentals of these communication enterprises apply to networked devices.
FIG. 10 illustrates an flow diagram of a Internet or Intranet dial-up and Logon process 1000. At no time is waiting more important then at the start of an Internet dial-up. One must wait for the computer to make a connection to an Internet service provider (ISP), to verify the password and finally to "make the connection". This dial-up process can take 30 seconds to several minutes depending on many factors including modem speed, available network utilization and available bandwidth and the server availability of a desired server. Therefore a need exists to provide the appliance operator, during idle time, additional information to inform, to entertain or to educate the operator. The PC operator 1025 selects the icon to start the connection process and if required inputs the password 1003. Now processor initiates the connection process 1005. This connection could be wired: a dial up modem, a cable modem, a wired local area network (LAN) or wireless: satellite, wireless modem, microwave, or any other type of wired or wireless connection. In any case a "logical" connection is sought. At this point in time the operator 1025 is put into a wait mode 1021, while the processor and the network accomplish the task of connection. If the connection is not made 1009 the computer may re-dial several reprogrammed times 1007. Once the connection is completed the password and certain other information is sent, such as the connection speed. The service provider receives the password and checks for validity 1011. If the password is not valid, the operator is asked to retry 1013. If the password is valid than a connection is granted 1015. Now typically the operators pre-programmed home or first page of information is sent and rendered 1017. Only now is the operator completed waiting and there is something else, other than "connecting status" displayed on the screen 1023. At this point in time the operator has a normal Internet or Intranet session 1019. The connecting status allows the PC operator to be aware of the progress and status of the connecting process. The major steps are: dialing, connecting, verifying the password, making a network connection and finally connected and the end of the wait for the operator.
There are application software solutions such as Point Cast.TM. and BackWeb.TM. that will display information that has been aggregated. The PC offers a list or menu to the user for down loading and viewing during their Internet session. Taken together, Point Cast.TM. and Back Web.TM. offer what is know as push technology. The user subscribes to certain information, and then receives this information during time periods when the PC is connected to a host. The downloaded information, is selected from a list of information and news. It is important to understand that the user has the final say in what is displayed from a list of preferences. In addition there is no user location, or user time of day tuning for this information. Within the Internet there are E-mail products that are offered to Internet operators at no charge. These products are allowed to send, receive and compose E-mail when connected to the Internet from anyone's computer. In addition a user's mail is stored in a server that is provided by the this E-mail company. The way that the E-mail provider can pay for this E-mail service is for advertisers to pay for ad space which is viewed during the users E-mail session. Examples of these E-mail products are HotMail.TM. from Microsoft and Yahoo Mail from Yahoo!.TM..
In all of these illustrative examples, the operator (or user) of a processor is waiting for the completion of a process. Waiting is a relative measurement of time. For example, the wait for a connection to the Internet the first time may seem short. But after daily usage this time seems very long. The time is the same, the perception and familiarity of the waiting is the real issue. Yet another issue is the aggregated waiting time between operators and processors. Considering only the Internet for example, there are about 50 million users in the U.S. on the Internet daily, who wait about 30 seconds each and every time. This waiting results in 47 years of aggregated waiting, each and every day. Accordingly a need exists to overcome the problems noted above by providing a user of a dial-up networking service additional information to educate, to entertain, and to amuse, a user while waiting for the dial-up connection to complete.
The use of a microprocessor, or controller or information processing system is used to save time, labor, money or to improve the quality of the product or service. The use of microprocessor-based systems has presented the user with a problem. The user is waiting for the end of the process that was initiated by the user to complete. User perception is important during times of waiting. For example; when elevators were first introduced, the time, and effort of climbing the stairs of high rise buildings were replaced by the comfort and time saving ride up or down in an elevator. However once in place the elevator users (operators) had complaints about the speed of the service. The users must wait for the elevator to arrive at the floor of the user. The elevator solution, had a problem. The owners of the elevators wanted to solve the perception of the long wait for the elevator ride. The solution was for the elevator owners to installed mirrors around the doors. The perception was that the speed of service of the elevators had improved. In reality, the wait time for the elevator was the same. What had changed was that the elevator user (operator) was using the mirror to look at themselves or at others during the wait for the elevator. Therefore, a need exists to modify a user's perception of waiting for a user initiated task to complete by presenting additional information.